Share This Story!

Quinn, Rams looking for upset in Seattle

(SportsNetwork.com) - Yes Virginia, the Seattle Seahawks can be beaten at home. And now the NFC heavyweights are in danger of blowing their chance at winning the NFC West. The Seahawks try to shake off their

(SportsNetwork.com) - Yes Virginia, the Seattle Seahawks can be beaten at home.

And now the NFC heavyweights are in danger of blowing their chance at winning the NFC West.

The Seahawks try to shake off their first loss at CenturyLink Field in two years on Sunday versus the St. Louis Rams, who have a shot at posting their first non-losing season since 2006.

Though a playoff spot has been locked up for a few weeks, the Seahawks have lost two of three since a seven-game winning streak to put their chances at a division title in doubt. They could have locked up the crown and a first-round bye last Sunday versus the visiting Arizona Cardinals, but instead lost a 17-10 decision.

With the San Francisco 49ers winning on Monday night, the 12-3 Seahawks are just a game up on the defending NFC champions. They can still claim their first NFC West title since 2010 with a victory over the Rams or a loss by the Niners to the Cardinals this weekend.

Seattle can also match the best record in franchise history on Sunday. The 2005 Seahawks went 13-3 en route to an appearance in Super Bowl XL.

But first, the Seahawks will look to bounce back from having their 14-game home winning streak snapped. Seattle took a one-point lead over Arizona on Russell Wilson's 11-yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller with 7:26 on the clock in the fourth quarter, but Arizona came back and went ahead with Carson Palmer's 31-yard scoring strike to Michael Floyd.

Arizona successfully converted the two-point try to account for the final margin with 2:13 to play.

"We saw a tremendous defensive football game today. It was a slugfest they won out," Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. "We had trouble in all phases today. We had some stuff after the whistle. We could not find the hookups we normally get. This goes into next week."

It was Seattle's first loss at home since Dec. 24, 2011 and the first of Wilson's NFL career. The quarterback threw for just 108 yards and was sacked four times while throwing a pick.

Marshawn Lynch rushed for 71 yards on 18 carries for Seattle, which got four interceptions from its defense. Two of those were by cornerback Richard Sherman.

The Rams are certainly no stranger to the Seahawks' excellent play at home. They are just 1-10 all-time at CenturyLink Field and have lost 15 of the past 17 meetings overall.

That includes a 14-9 loss at home to Seattle on Oct. 28.

The Rams come in having won two straight and four of their past six games to get to 7-8 on the season. That gives St. Louis a chance to post its first non- losing season since going 8-8 in 2006.

Rookie running back Zac Stacy paced a 23-13 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend with 104 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 33 carries. Fellow rookie back Stedman Bailey added a 27-yard touchdown run, Kellen Clemens completed 16 of his 20 pass attempts and defensive end Robert Quinn had three of St. Louis' seven sacks.

"Run the football, play good defense and then the other things happen," said Rams head coach Jeff Fisher.

Quinn's third three-sack game of the season gave him a franchise-record 18 sacks on the season, breaking Kevin Carter's record of 17 set in 1999.

Rookie linebacker Alec Ogletree forced two fumbles and first-year safety T.J. McDonald picked up the first sack of his career.

"I think a lot of credit certainly goes to our scouting department for finding those guys," Clemens said of the Rams' young contributors. "And a lot of it just goes to their work ethic. We're fortunate in some regards because some of these rookies still don't know what they don't know.

"I said it a couple weeks ago, we're a football team that unfortunately is not going to the playoffs, but you would not know it by the way that we continue to come in, continue to work and continue to show up on Sundays. And a big part of that has been the contributions that we've gotten from some of these young players."

St. Louis hopes those young guys can help the club snap an eight-game slide in Seattle, where the franchise has not won since Oct. 10, 2004.